


Dick is gone

by Featherly



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batman saves Dick, Dick is broken, Dick is in trouble, Forced Castration, Kidnapping, Messed up OCs, Poor Dick though, hopeless
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-09-16 17:31:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9282521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Featherly/pseuds/Featherly
Summary: When the son of Bruce Wayne went missing, it was everywhere for weeks. Months later it seems like only two people give a damn.





	1. Chapter 1

It was the only thing in the news for a whole two weeks, the disappearance of Bruce Wayne’s son. After this time, it slowed down to page 2, then 4, then to a small headline on page 29; ‘still no sign of Dick Grayson Wayne’. 

The question on everyone’s mind, the reason it was seen as big news for two weeks and more, was because noone knew how. It happened at Wayne manor, where the security is rumored to even kill any unwanted person who steps a foot on Wayne land.

A door to door salesman in a pub swore on his mother that he got his leg broken halfway to the door from the gate, when a log rolled out from nowhere and took him out. Then he had to fend off a large black dog with nothing but his hands.

“How did you get out of there?” demanded the 6 curious listeners around him.

“Bruce Wayne himself found me, called an ambulance. Sent a basket and paid for my medical expenses. Nice fella. Sad to hear ‘bout his kid though.”

A lowtime burglar had a similar experience, though his story was much less believable to the men sitting around in a small alley on trashcans.  
“No way you ever seen Wayne manor even in a magazine.”  
“Swear on me mum! Only got to just over the fence when I felt a little stab in me leg. Looked down, saw blood, dunno what happened next. Woke up in a police station. Coppers said Wayne ‘imself brought me in. Glad his kid is gone. Finally got ‘is comeuppance.”

**

Bruce sat at the kitchen table, waiting with a heavy heart for the phone to ring.

His efforts had already been exhausted and he was losing hope as everyone else already had. 

The commissioner had as many men as possible looking over what little evidence they had 24/7, Batman, Batgirl, and Robin patrolled every night from dusk till dawn, and Bruce used all of his underworld connections to the best of his abilities.

But it had all come up to nothing. A total three months and 26 days had passed since the boy first went missing, and there was still scarcely a trace of him. Naturally, Bruce blamed himself entirely.

Alfred kept telling him “It’s not your fault Bruce. Dick was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Bruce’s heart cracked a little more every time Dick’s name was mentioned. “It’s like he’s going to come through the front door at any moment... But I know he wont. I just wish I knew where he went, who took him, anything really. How the hell did He even get past my defences?”

“I don’t know sir.” It seemed like they had this conversation every 10 minutes.

“He disabled Dick’s tracer. How? And how did he disable the cameras?”

“I don’t know sir.”

“If I had just said no, this wouldn’t have happened... He could be anywhere.” Bruce sighed and put his head in his hands. “Or even everywhere.” He said this last part under his breath, and it had a crack somewhere in the middle. His eyes began to water.

“We musn’t give up hope.” But even Alfred said it with no conviction. Truly, they both believed Dick to be dead. They hadn’t recieved a hostage note, and the intelligent Dick hadn’t made any attempt to contact anyone at all. No aeroplane shaped note thrown into the street from a window, no screams heard at 11pm. If Dick was still alive, he was in more trouble than he knew. 

The phone finally rang and was to Bruce’s ear before the first ring resonated entirely. “Commissioner Gordon?”

“Yes Bruce. We’ve spoken to 8 more wittnesses and three more members of The catering staff. Three young ladies described a strange man in a black cap constantly looking over at them, but other than him, noone seemed out of place. We’ve followed up their story with security footage, and he left before the disappearence occured.”  
“We don’t know when it occured.”

Gordon continued as if Bruce hadn’t spoken. “One more girl stated that she was compelled by Dick and noticed him a lot of the night, but after 12:30 she lost sight of him. She knows he didn't leave because her group was right next to the door meaning she would have noticed. We may have out approximate time now.”

Bruce felt a pang of hope at these words.

“We also asked the caterers member if they saw someone strange. They all said too many to recognise only one. I’m sorry Bruce, but this is all of the new information we have.”

“Thankyou commissioner. I'll speak to you when you have another update.” and he hung up the phone.

“Where are you Dick.” asked the billionaire to nobody. He knew it was hopeless. Dick was dead.

**

Dick woke up to a kick in his side. A steel toed boot that made him feel sick upon its collision with his gut. A bowl of fishheads was dropped on the ground next to him, but the flashlight in his eyes made it so he couldn’t see it.

Someone else to his side removed the ballgag from his mouth, but he knew not to scream.

“Eat.” said the same male voice he had heard for days, weeks, months.

He brought his bound knees up and stretched his arched back to reach the ‘food.’ He bit into one, feeling the soft skin of the eyeball between his front teeth, felt the juices squirt out the side of his mouth. He shook his head from side to side to tear the rubbery skin off since he didn’t have the use of his arms which were bound behind his back.

Juices ran down his throat and he devoured the fish heads, trying to ignore the pain he got from fish bones stabbing into his gums making him bleed. The light never went off him, which he was greatful for since he would have missed the fishhead that fell out of the bowl had the light been anywhere else.

When the last fishhead was gone, the man with the flashlight moved forward and put a hand on Dick’s head. He flinched at the touch, but remained still as his hair was tussled. The other person replaced the ballgag to Dick’s mouth, as well as a blindfold to his eyes.

“There’s a good boy.”


	2. Chapter 2

~Four months and 16 days earlier: ~

 

Bruce Wayne had his head in one hand and the other on the computer mouse. He had about a billion things he needed to do, and he was trying hard to concentrate on them, but it was difficult when Dick refused to just... Stop.

“Come on Bruce,” insisted the teen, “It’s my 18th birthday. Everyone has a party for their 18th, and I only get one shot at it!”

“I don’t want strange kids running around my house breaking everything they see.”

“I’ve had to sit through your boring parties for the past 8 years! You didn’t let me have a 16th, and now I can’t even have an 18th?”

“The answer is NO, Dick.”

Dick held his arms out in a ‘what the’ gesture. He held the position for a moment, waiting for Bruce to continue. When he didn’t, Dick stalked out of the room, slamming the door and muttering obsenities under his breath as he went.

“Still nothing?” asked a Jason who wanted this to happen as much as Dick did.

“No, but we will get him.”

The boys went to the dining hall and sat themselves at one end of the long table, where their plans and diagrams were already layed out.

These plans included a list of over 60 potential guests, food ideas, music and entertainment needs, and every other essential for a party. Diagrams involved a layout of the house and labels for where everything would go. The pair had been planning the event for half a year.

“I still think pizza would be fine.” stated Jason. They had already discussed this a billion times, but the boring older brother wanted something with more finesse, his heart set on proper caterers.

“We're meant to show off our riches, and pizza certainly doesn’t make the cut. Plus Bruce can’t stand the smell so it wouldn't help at all in swaying him.”

The pair spoke for what seemed like hours about the endless plans and hopes. Bruce listened to them speak for some of that time from right outside the door. They really did want this to happen...

Bruce sighed and went to the bar room where he found Alfred wiping down the bar counter. He sat on a stool opposite from his elder.

“You can get your own drink you know.” stated Alfred with an air of boredom.

“Do you think I should let Dick have a party for his birthday?” asked Bruce, not much into Alfred’s shennanigans. 

“Well he has had to deal with your boring parties for the past 8 years.”

“Oh you heard that did you?” asked Bruce, cocking an eyebrow.

“Heard what?” asked Alfred, genuine confusion on his face.

“...never mind. So you do think I should let him have one?”

“Oh definitely. After the life he’s lead, hes earned it.” 

Bruce still looked skeptical.

“Think of it this way” Alfred said as he put both hands on the bar counter in front of Bruce, “If his parents would have allowed it, you should consider it too.”

“I dont think they would have allowed over 60 people in their house.”

“Maybe its 8 people for every party his parents would have allowed.”

Bruce sighed. He didn’t really mind the thought of having a raging party for Dick, and he knew that Dick had earned it. He didn’t even care if everything he had got broken if it meant Dick could have a good night. No, what scared him was the basic fact that a party would mean he had come to terms with Dick’s aging. His baby boy was growing up...

Really, it was too easy to still think of Dick as a small orphan boy he adopted not too long ago. Time flew by and letting everyone acknowledge this in Dick meant he couldn’t keep him safe forever. Soon he would be moving out and finding full time work. He would find a girl, go through many break ups, have sex... Perhaps he already had, maybe even under Bruce’s roof.

Dick was growing up fast, and Bruce wanted to do everything in his power to slow it down, but.... But...

Two hours later, Bruce was sat down for dinner with Alfred to his left, Jason to his right, and Dick next to Jason.

It was a silent meal with the exception of silver on china. Bruce watched his boys, looking up every now and then to really look at them.   
When did Jason start growing facial hair?

Bruce cleared his throat, calling everyones attention to himself.

“Dick...” 

Dick said nothing, anticipating what was coming next. Jason tried to stifle his grin, but failed terribly.

“You can have your party”

This is what the boys wanted to hear. They stood up and high fived each other with cries of “YES” and “Thankyou, thankyou,thankyou!”

“But” interrupted Bruce. The boys sat down again, worry on the edge of their features. “You can add no more teenagers to your list. Adults we know are fine, but no more kids.”

“Yeah, thats fair. We have everyone we want anyway.” said Dick, indicating himself and Jason. Jason nodded in return with a “mmhm.” 

**

“But you can’t bring anyone” said Dick to some cool kid the next day.

“What about my girlfriend?” replied the kid.

“Yeah, should be fine.” said Dick, not too fussed about one extra chick. Her on top of the other people he had said the same thing to though...

“It’ll be fine.” Dick kept telling himself this. “Bruce just wants me to have a good time. It’ll all be okay.”

Dick had become increasingly nervous about the event as it drew nearer. He didn’t know if he had it in him anymore, now that he finally had it to confront. 

He didn’t really have a reason to worry anyway. Bruce had given it a green light, the caterers were booked, a DJ had been booked, he had something snazzy and new to wear, and everyone invited seemed keen about it. So why was he so nervous?

**

Hours before the party was due to start, Jason, Bruce, Alfred, and Dick were running around getting everything into place, as well as triple checking the security upgrades.

Cameras were coded with the latest tech, impossible to hack. Guns were hidden in places noone would look, no matter how drunk, doors to valuable places were locked, the door to the study concealing the batcave was locked, Barbara was patrolling as Batgirl, and bodyguards were set up at every entrance and exit.

When the first group of 12 turned up around 8:30 already half drunk, Dick relaxed instantly. This... They were there to celebrate him.

He greeted them all individually, and Bruce went with Alfred to get a drink themselves from the caterers. Jason stood on the outside of the circle as they chatted.

“How many coming Dick?” asked a boy Dick had know throughout highschool.

“Just over 60, I think?” 

“Cool. So what are everyones plans for...” 

They continued talking as people arrived, and Dick always greeted them as individuals, even the ones he didn’t know.

Five hours in and there were well over two hundred and fifty people in attendance.

Bruce was beyond angry. He walked around, looking desperately for Dick and his explanation for this blatant disregard of Bruce’s trust.

He stepped into the backyard, fumbling between horny teenagers and creepy adults, searching for someone to yell at and blame for this.

He looked across the pool and saw Jason sitting with his legs in the water completely dressed, his mouth on some girl he had never seen before. Bruce rolled his eyes and shoved his way around the pool towards Jason. He tapped the boy on the shoulder and recieved an angry bat of the hand in response. He flicked the back of Jason’s head, and he finally turned around.

“Ugh. what is it Bruce!?”

Bruce recoiled at this disrespect. Who had given Jason liquor when he was so obviously underage? “Where’s your brother?” He had to yell over the sound of the music, and had to repeat himself three times before Jason heard him.

“Dunno. Found a chick. Better than Dick. Chicks before Dick am-i-rite?” Jason raised his hand to hi-five Bruce. Bruce kindly rejected it, to which Jason shrugged and resumed his activity. Surely Bruce had taught Jason better respect than what he had just shown.

Bruce walked around the pool again, but failed when some heavy jock boys pushed him into the water while wrestling. Bruce resurfaced and gave the boys a ‘what the hell’ look.  
“Sorry Bro” they called out.  
He removed himself from the water and went to the security room to change.

‘Maybe this is a good thing’ thought Bruce as he towelled his hair. ‘Can find Dick better from here.’

He looked at every monitor, scrutinized every pixel in search of Dick. It seemed like ten minutes had passed, but still no sign of him...

Perhaps he had already gone to bed. He turned on the ‘not so secret camera’ in Dick’s room. It beeped three times, (a warning for Dick if there was anything he wanted to keep... Private, before Bruce could see everything,) and an image appeared, but he found only an empty room. He did this with every camera, but found only the same results.

Bruce looked over every monitor again. There were a lot of people. Surely he had just missed Dick.

Bruce rewound the footage to the start of the night, and then fast forwarded it while he followed Dick’s image around the house. Three hours into the night, he was there. Four hours in, he was there. Four hours and ten minutes in, he was just... Gone. 

Bruce reviewed the footage over and over. There had to be something off.

Bruce looked at the people Dick was interacting with. Two boys and two girls. He seemed a little tipsy, (again, underaged drinking) and then stumbled away from them, but refused to appear in the camera he should have been in next. He looked at the camera showing the area where Dick was in that moment from a different point of view, but he was still standing there, only he wasn’t with two boys and two girls. He was talking to one other person Bruce couldn’t see, and he didn’t walk off in that video for another twenty seconds... 

The video of Dick talking to four other people was fake. That happened earlier in the night. He WAS there in that moment, but someone had repeated the footage from earlier over the real images. Everything from 12:30 onwards was fake footage.

Bruce looked at his watch to find that it was 2:37 in the morning. The timeframe was two hours ago. Dick had already been missing for two hours or more...

This was desperate now. Bruce explained the situation to the body guards who weren’t allowed to let anyone leave just yet under any circumstances. Bruce stormed around the pool again, and this time when the same boys almost pushed him into the pool, by accident of course, Bruce pushed them away with an inhuman strength with one hand. He had eyes only for the DJ’s area.

Bruce stopped the records and turned down everything with the exception of the microphone.

“Dick, can you please make your way out here.”

Everyond looked around, slightly uncomfortable.

“Dick, please come here now. Theres something we need to discuss about the dog.”

Dick loved Ace, and would have come running if he thought something was wrong with him.  
But Dick was nowhere to be seen.

Bruce’s heart was beating out of his chest. Jason drunkenly made his way to the stage next to Bruce. The crowd were now chatting amongst themselves, asking each other when they last saw Dick.

“Wassa matter Dad?” asked Jason, throwing an arm around Bruce’s shoulder.

“Dick is Gone.”


	3. Chapter 3

~three months and 26 days earlier:~

Dick couldn’t remember much that had happened the previous night. Someone had brought alcohol, (though he couldn’t remember who,) and he could remember doing shots of vodka with some chick. He could remember making out with her after, but couldn’t really remember anything after that.

He woke up with a pounding headache. ‘Must have had too much’ he thought. He put a hand to his forehead, but became confused when his other hand went with it. He squinted and found a rope around his wrists. 

Dick should have started panicking then, his thoughts immediately going to the worst place he could think of. Did he have sex with that drunk girl? Did they do kinky things... But this proves that she wanted it. He wouldn’t bind his own wrists for fun.

Dick found the knot impossible to undo. He groaned while he checked his naked lower region to see that he was thoroughly covered by the blanket before calling out to his father figure. 

“Bruce?” he called out. He looked towards where his door was through one squinted eye, and only then did he realise he wasn’t in his own house.

“Bruce? Where are we?” 

Someone came into the room, but it wasn’t Bruce.

“Hey, who’r-” 

The stranger stormed up to Dick and smacked him across the cheek with the back of his hand. There was an audible crack and Dick brought his hands up to his face where an itchy redness was already visible.

“You must be the father of the girl I... Uh...”

The man grabbed Dick by his shoulders and got in his face. “Stop talking. You don’t speak, got it?”

Dick cringed away from the man as much as he could. “That seems unreasona-” he recieved another slap across the face in the same spot. His eye began to water, so he just nodded his head. What the hell did he do to that girl last night?

The strange man stood up and moved back towards the door. “Cara!” He called out. “He’s awake now.”

There was the sound of footsteps on stairs and a girl showed herself. She was the girl Dick had shots with last night, this much he knew.

“Look, I can’t remember what happened last night, so can you please just-” 

Cara held Dick’s chin and moved his head from side to side, checking his features for what, Dick didn’t know. 

Dick was becoming frustrated. “If you could just-” 

“I said stop talking” said the man from behind Cara.

“I just want-”

“Bit of a talker, isn’t he Daddy. That’s okay, just get the ball” said Cara with a smile on her face. 

“Right oh sweety.” replied her Father. He reached into a drawer near him and pulled out a ballgag, often used for bondage, not usually found in living room drawers. He threw it to his daughter who caught it and went straight to strapping it into Dick’s mouth.

Dick protested with groans and screams behind the gag. He struggled and continued his attempts to shout.

“Bill would want him a little less feisty. Are you sure he would want this one?” asked Cara, scratching Dick behind his ear.

“We can beat it out of him.” replied the older with a murderous look in his eye.

Dick struggled against the girl, who moved her other hand to his bare chest.

“He is in good shape. You were right Dad. A most impeccable speciman.” Her hand moved lower and removed the blanket swiftly. Dick tried to cover himself with his legs, but ultimately failed. “This may be a problem though” said Cara. Dick would be lying if he said the statement didn’t hurt a little.

But that didn’t matter right now. His legs were free.

Cara’s father seemed to read Dick’s mind in that moment, however. “Leave this place and you get a bull tranq in you.” Dick decided it was worth the risk.

He used his left leg to get onto both feet, allowing his momentum to do most of the work. He ran towards the front door, found it locked, and jumped through the window next to it instead.

He crashed onto his side piercing his skin with large amounts of glass shards, ignored this, and rolled himself onto his feet, which also had glass inside them. He ran as fast as he could, and got a considerable distance, but didn’t realise for some time that he was stuck on a cattle farm. There was only land in every direction, and he had to stop and try to get his bearings by using the sun and shadows. He stopped, but he shouldn’t have.

As promised he received a dart in his arm, enough to take down a bull. He fell forward, his world swirling before him. He let out one last cry, one last shudder of breath, and fell into unconsiousness.

**

A whole day and more after this, Dick woke up in the same place he had the previous morning. He was still naked, his arms were still bound, only this time his knees were tied to a metal beam, his legs spread as far apart as possible.

He moaned. He didn’t want to, but he was hungry and extremely thirsty. “He... Hello?” he called out. His throat was dry and his head hurt so much, he wasn’t sure if he had even called out. But sure enough, Cara appeared before him and bent down next to him.

Dick was on his back with his head to the side. He didn’t want to go anywhere then. Cara moved the hair out of his face and asked him what he wanted.

“Water.” was all Dick could say, and it sounded so scratchy she asked him to repeat it.

The girl left and returned with a large waterbottle with a pop lid. She held it to his mouth and he drank it all within minutes. He did this twice more until he was satisfied. 

“You must be hungry too.” 

Dick nodded, refusing to meet her eye.

“Two seconds hun” and she left again. This time when she returned, she was holding a plate of some individually wrapped, squished ball shaped food. Dick sat up and she placed the dish next to him. He unwrapped one of the packages and found a burger from the local fast food joint. Dick didn’t know which one, having never been to one in Gotham in his life.

He demolished burger after burger, not having realised just how hungry he really was. Cara watched him the whole time. 

“Daddy supplies Gotham burger with his cows so he gets free stuff. Eat as much as you want.” 

Dick wiped his mouth. He had to be brave, even though the situation seemed hopeless. “Why... Why am I here?” 

He set himself up for a slap, but none came.

“You're our gift to Bill. He’s my brother, and he comes back next month.”

“But I’m a human. Not something to be made a gift... You people need help. I know a guy. Just, let me go and we can call it quits. I’ll make something up and-” 

“No no no. You are our gift. We’ve been choosing all year.”

“Choosing?”

“Yeah. From last years year book. I was the year above you, and the second Daddy saw you, he knew you were the one. We’ve been watching you all year, and that party of yours was the perfect opportunity.”

“But how did you even get me? With all the cameras and-” the tracer in his neck. Bruce could be searching for him right now!

“And the tracer in your neck?” (DAMMIT!) 

“um... Yes.”

“Oh, easy. I do I.T. Had experience at WayneTech. Made it easier to watch you, find you, and get you.”

“But how could you-” Dick stopped when the door opened.

Cara’s Dad stepped in holding a small metal object. It looked like a pair of pliars, but it had a spring between the handles and 4 tiny prongs where the head of the pliars would be. 

“Oh, good thinking Daddy.” said Cara as she moved Dick forward so he was lying down with his knees a right angle to the floor.

“Figure it will stop him from being so wiley.” The older man took a tiny black donut shapped ring out of his front pocket. It was about the size of his smallest bitten fingernail, and the hole was even smaller. He put it on the end of the device he was holding and pulled the vice like grip. This stretched the ring to a square about the size of his palm. Dick knew what it was straight away, but surely he wouldn’t...

Cara held Dick’s legs down with all of her strength with the assistance of the beam attached to his knees, and when Cara’s father grabbed his balls he screamed, no gag to stop him. He felt the elasticator on his thigh and tried his hardest to kick away, but it was all in vain. He couldn’t twist himself at all, and even if he wanted to, he was completely petrified by fear.

He felt the ring go around his testes and started crying. It was weak, it was lame, but it was all he could do.

“No, no, no, no, no” repeated the 18 year old. He hit his head on the ground underneath him with every word.

“Three.”

Bruce was coming. He had to be.

“Two.”

...any second now batman would burst through the door.

“one.”

... Bruce wasn’t going to find him.  
When the elasticator finally slipped around his balls with the sound of a stapler, Dick lost all control. He writhed on the ground, thrashing the lower half of his body as much as he could. He lost control of his bladder and couldn’t stop screaming. If there has been anyone within a kilometre of Dick, they would have heard him. Spit and tears dripped down his face onto the floor beneath him, and he threw up what little food he had eaten. His screams reduced to whimpers, and his head became light. Within seconds, Dick had fainted.  
Even in his unconscious state, his breathing was erratic.

“The bulls scream less, and they have bigger balls. No need for this one to be such a little-” 

“Now now Daddy,” said Cara, “the deed is done, now we just need to break him properly. It'll be easier now.”

**

Dick woke up in a yard close to the start of morning. Whether it was the front yard or the backyard he couldn’t tell. 

He had no rope binding his hands, and no bar between his knees. He could run away then, if not for the metal collar and chain stuck around his neck which bonded him to a large dog house.

The first thing Dick became aware of was a numbness in his privates. Looking down he discovered his testes had become white and slightly shrivelled compared to how they should have been. The second thing Dick became aware of was the way it seemed like his stomach couldn’t settle. He wanted to be sick and he wanted to eat.

Dick touched his left testical and felt an intense heat through his entire body. It was numb and sensitive, in the way ones leg would be from sitting on it during a movie. He felt the rubber ring enclosing his region, and tried to pry it off. He sat on his knees and dug his thumb underneath the tiny ring, eventually using both hands to attempt to get it off.

Hours later, he had made very little progress, and his balls were bleeding from him accidently digging his nails into them. He tried instead breaking the elastic, but they were designed to last. More hours later and he had only made a microscopic indentation in the ring and his nails were bleeding.

Cara’s dad opened the door to Dick and immedately scolded him. “Don’t do that ya bastard.” He hit his fists into either side of Dick’s face, and Dick stopped what he was doing immediately. “I got just the thing.” He dropped what he was holding in front of Dick, a dog bowl filled with water, and went back into the house.

Dick stared at his body, naked, scar covered, starved, desperate to get away. If he did ever get away from these people, he wouldn’t be the same at all.

He didn’t look up when the older man returned, not even when he put a large dog cone around Dick’s neck, not even when his arms were forced behind his back and tied together.

Dick had never felt so lost before, so far gone. Every part of his body hurt, and he just wanted to go home. “Sir?” Braved Dick. Cara’s father turned to Dick, that muderous glare in his face again. Dick didn’t see it though. He still refused to look into his eyes. “I want to go back to my life now. Please?” 

Cara’s father bent down in front of Dick, and Dick finally looked up. Had he broken through this man’s tough exterior? 

“I thought I told you not to talk” he said. He stood again and kicked Dick, and again when the boy let out a yelp. He did this again, and again, until he felt that Dick had learnt his lesson; when he stopped making any noise all together

At the end of the month, Dick was living in the backyard of Cara Thompson’s house. His balls had dropped off, every inch of his body was bruised and beaten, he had shards of glass lodged in his body at various intervals, his limbs were stiff and pained, and he had already lost too much muscle mass. He was the basic definition of broken, unable to escape, devoid of hope. 

His life had become a routine in that mere month. Wake up, use the bush as a bathroom when he was permitted, eat if there was any food left over from the previous night, sleep. 

‘Perhaps this would change when this Bill comes’ thought Dick, ‘Maybe Bill has sense.’

Boy was Dick wrong.

**

Dick didn’t get a chance to wake up the day Bill was due for arrival. He was dragged by his collar and chain through the house and down the basement stairs. He could have had his neck broken had he not allowed slack in the collar by grabbing the chain. 

He didn’t make a noise though.

Cara’s father left Dick free to wonder, knowing he couldnt use anything down there to get away or contact anyone. He left, locked the basement, and gave no explanation. Dick knew though. He knew what this meant. Bill was coming.

To Dick,this meeting would go one of two ways. He would either be disgusted in his parent and siblings behaviour and be Dick’s saviour, or he could be just as mad as these people were.

What the hell was he thinking? This was his chance to escape! ‘Pull your head out Grayson, help yourself’.

He took in his surroundings, sure he could utilise anything in the room. There was a bone underneath the stairs, and a hammer on the bench. They would have to do.

Though he was weak, Dick felt he had enough adrenaline to do this. He put a bare foot on the bone and snapped it in half. This put bone fragments in Dick’s foot, but it worked how he wanted it to in the end. The bone had become a jagged shaft, a makeshift knife. Now he had two weapons. Two more than he had at any other time.

Dick crept up the stairs and waited. He waited and waited, until he finally heard what he wanted. There was a knock on the door, which opened and revealed Bill to his father and sister. There were cries of “BILL” and a jolly catch up, which ended in their father telling Bill “we have something for you.” 

Dick was ready. When the door opened, he would slam the hammer into one of their heads, and stab the other one. Then he would take whatever weapon they had as protection if Cara attacked, find keys and drive to the nearest town. It seemed perfect, easy.

The door opened. Dick pulled it wide, the hammer raised and ready, but there was one thing he didn’t account for at all.

These two fully grown men had a whole floor to break their fall. Dick had nothing.

Bill and cara’s father easily dodged the hammer and sent Dick falling backwards with a quick push. Dick fell butt over head, tumbling backwards down the hard stairs. Halfway down the bone knife lodged itself into Dick’s thigh all the way to where the hilt of a knife would be. The tumble ended with Dick hitting the back of his head against the wall, and once again succumbing to unconsciousness.

Bill looked at the now unconscious Dick Grayson down the stairs but right in front of him. “For me Dad? You shouldn’t have! I’ll be sure to take good care of him, promise!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An elasticator is a tool used by farmers to castrate bull calves, baby sheep and goat kids


	4. Chapter 4

more than a year after Dick’s disappearence and Bruce was still tense. He believed Dick was still alive, but he was losing hope every day.

Really, he had a feeling in the back of his mind that Dick was still alive, a hunch that he refused to ignore. He felt a day would come when the hunch suddenly disappeared as Dick had, unknowingly and unexpectedly; only, when the hunch left he wouldnt even notice.

Alfred wanted to believe the first robin was okay. He just couldn’t.

Jason was hurting inside every day. He became angry and began lashing out at anyone and everyone. He fought in school and his grades slipped terribly. He never believed Dick survived, but he still wanted answers to who took him and why. He didn’t much care for the how. As robin, if he was honest, Jason was never fully impressed by Dick.

The commissioner's daughter believed Dick was alive, but barely living. She knew Dick intimately, was fully aware of what he was capable of. She didn’t need a hunch to know Dick was okay, but she worried about him every day, and continued to search for traces of him every night as Batgirl. She performed well where Batman failed.

As Batgirl, Barbara gordon had the ability to gain the high ground on anyone she wanted to. As the commissioners daughter, she had connections to find anyone she wanted in Gotham, as well as outside it.

Barbara had been reviewing the security footage since the beginning, found the name of every person who appeared for even a second on camera. She knew where they lived, where they went to school, how many members in their family, how they usually wore their hair, where their birthmarks were, and any other useless tidbits of information she could manage to find.

She had all the resources she needed, so it was only a matter of applying what she knew.

There were many suspicious characters at Dick’s birthday, and Batgirl had stalked all of them. It took weeks, but every single person was found and watched. There was still no trace of Dick.

There had to be one tiny morsel of evidence that would give them what they wanted. One pixel that could change everything.

Barbara rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, rewound the security footage, and watched it again from 0 seconds in.

~~~  
It took another month after that to find what she was looking for. For one second, on the edge of the camera and so fast it was impossible to see on normal speed, someone wearing a previously unseen outfit. This person, whoever they were, they had gone unnoticed for the duration of the night and for months after it. 

Barbara saved the image and ran through the footage once more at a high speed, just to be sure. Her heart beat out of her chest as she watched, searching desperately for a glimpse of the colours she had seen. The second it timed out she ran to her communicator, tripping over her own feet on the way. 

“B, you there? B!”

Seconds passed, but each one felt like minutes. 

“Babs? What is it?” 

Barbara moved around to the computer again and printed out what she had found.  
“I have info.”

“On scarecrow?”

“On Dick.”

They were silent for a minute. Barbara was anyway. She could hear his breathing.

“umm. So, half an hour at wayne tower. Top floor.” and he blipped off.

Barbara suited up and was at wayne tower well before the half hour was up. She respected his wishes by waiting until the predesignated time to make her appearence.

Batgirl looked into the top window of the tower, where Bruce did Most of his waynetech business. He was bent over his desk scrawling quickly, a passion in his eyes. Barbara tapped on the glass, and watched Bruce almost trip over his desk in a rush to greet her.

He pulled Batgirl in, both hands on her shoulders. He was still dressed as Bruce Wayne and had obviously been there all day.

“Did you find him?” demanded the older, wide eyes filled with a sliver of hope. Barbara almost felt bad when she replied.

“No. I havent found Dick at all, but I may have found who took him.”

Bruce looked away, sliding his hands off Barbara as he turned. He let out a sigh and brought a hand to his forehead. “He could be dead.”

“I know. And if he is, we have someone to bring to justice for taking him.”

“No. No, when I find who took him, he's dead. When I find the bastard who stole my son from me, I will kill him.”

Bruce was only a concerned father now, or his version of one at least. There was murder in his eyes. It would have scared Barbara if she hadnt had the exact same thought.

Bruce sat down at his desk and beckoned Barbara to him. She sat across from him as one would in an interview, and they stared at one another for a moment. “Let’s see what you have.” 

Barbara brought out the photo and handed it to Bruce.

“This white and orange. They’re a part of one piece of clothing. I haven’t seen it at all in the past 7 months. Its so sudden on camera, but its undeniable. This should lead us to Dick.”

Bruce was suddenly struck by inspiration. He stood abruptly, excitement and a rekindled spirit ignited. “Find everyone who was there that night. Look through their phones. There were plenty of people taking pictures that night. Find this white and orange and we may have a face to put to this mystery!”

“YES!”

Both stood up and just stared at each other open mouthed. “We can...” Bruce put a hand over his mouth. He had stayed strong for the public, but didn’t need to be there and then. He started crying. Never in any of her years had Barbara seen such a sight. 

~~~

Batgirl kneeled on the building across from her target, this being a girl named Tina Miller, or more accurately her phone. Through the window, Tina could be seen putting her phone on charge. Batgirl’s window of opportunity was coming up.

Tina yawned, opened her door and headed for her bathroom. Batgirl had a very limited amount of time. Of course Batgirl was in and out within seconds. She tapped a bluetooth device to the phone and retrieved all one thousand and eighty seven photos before leaving in the time span of twenty seconds. 

Everything was left where it was found, and there was no trace of anyone having entered through the window.

Once safely on the building she had started on, Batgirl spoke to Bruce.

“Any match?”

“Hang on Barbara. This girl likes her selfies.”

All uneeded photos were automatically deleted. Once Bruce had all of the photos from that night in front of him, he ran through them at a casual pace, stopping when he saw someone in the background wearing orange, white, or both.

“Not here.” said Bruce.

Batgirl was already on her way to the next house. “We will have luck soon. We have to.”

And it was true. At the next house, another girl named Ursula Benson had a phone filled with over three times as many photos as Tina had had. In one of them, a selfie with two boys, and a blurry image of the orange and white clothing in the background.   
They had a gender to put to the new target. It was an orange and white dress. She was looking away, but they had a hair colour to put to the target too, a dark brown. They now had her height, her body shape, her approximate shoe size. All from one photo.

Sliding through the rest of the photos saw even more results. “Barbara, come back to the cave. We have our abductor.”

~~~

Barbara was at the cave as fast as she could get there. Again, Bruce was hunched over some papers flicking through them furiously. Looking closely at him, she saw that his eyes were shiny and almost bloodshot, the bags underneath them darker than she had ever seen on him.

“Who is it B?”

He continued to flick through pages with his left hand and held out another set of papers with his right. The first picture was the first one Bruce saw, with the two boys and the girl. Seeing the girl in the background made her heart skip a beat. 

The second photo showed her again but closer. Her eyes were closed, but her features were visable. Judging by the way she looked, she was avoiding a photo from someone else.  
“I remember the photo she was avoiding. The lighting was terrible, so we couldnt see any colours in the background at all.”

The last image was also blurry. You couldnt see the colour of her dress at all, but the cut was the same, and her eyes were blue. An incredible, vibrant light blue just like Dick’s.

“Who is she?” asked Barbara.

Bruce didn’t say anything, but continued to shuffle through pages to indicate that he also had no idea. Completely used to this, Batgirl forced herself into the act of searching through papers, which turned out to be Dick’s old yearbooks. Bruce was still on Dick’s most recent year, so barbara took the second most recent.

Barbara was more organised with her work than Bruce was. She took a sharpie and crossed out anyone it couldnt have been, including all boys, then anyone with the wrong eye and hair colour, then anyone she remembered from the party. This brought the number of potential suspects down to about 40 students.

Barbara scrutinized every face for similar features to the girl in the pictures. She looked at hair length, lip shape, nose size, hairlines, everything. This brought her to three people who looked almost identical. Barbara flipped the book to face Bruce, who pinched the bridge of his nose and looked. His eyes darted to each face, before finally falling on the first one for more than a second.  
“What year is this one in?”

“Here? This is her last year.”  
“One year older than Dick. Find this Cara Thompson. We can plant the evidence at GCPD. They will contact me in the morning, and we will find him.

 

~~~

Bruce went with an officer. It would be better for if Dick was there and in need of an ambulance, since Bruce would be able to stay with his son.

The officer, Barnes, insisted they go for a quick lunch before they left. Bruce refused. They drove for what felt like hours in complete silence, Bruce completely lost in thought. This was finally it.

Jason had wanted to come too and took quite a bit of convincing, but Bruce got through to him when he described the possibly horrendous sight they could find. It was wrong to scare the current Robin like that, but Bruce would do it again under similar circumstances.

They pulled up to the Thompson farm around 8:30am with two other patrol cars, one containing two officers, the other with three. This could get ugly...

Bruce had to resist the urge to walk in front. This was still a matter of police business, and he couldn’t get in the way of them doing their job, especially where Dick was involved.

Barnes knocked on the door and all 7 people stood waiting. A much older man answered with a look of surprise.

“Mornin gentlemen. What can I do for ya on this fine day?”

The officer next to Barnes spoke; “Alan Thompson, we have requested a warrant to search your home under the impression of illegal activity having taken place. Your right to refuse has been revoked, all actions are subject to questioning later on.” 

“Sure thing. Wont find nothing in there though” said Alan opening the door wider to allow entry to all newcomers. As they filed in, Alan’s eyes lingered on Bruce Wayne’s murderous face. It was a wonder how much things went your way when you had so much money.

“Would anyone like a cuppa? This place isn’t close.”

Bruce Wayne couldn’t describe his anger when three officers agreed to the offer. Had they already forgotten the allegations behind this guy?

Alan had a kind face and soft features. Not the kind of face a kidnapper would have. He had them fooled. He sat at his kitchen table with four of the officers, the rest choosing to stand behind them.

“Anyway Mr Thompson, we were wondering if your daughter was around. We were sent by Batman to ask her some questions” said a cop in a friendly and respectful tone.

“By Batman? Goodness, whats my little girl done now? She’s sweet really.” He called her name and she ran to the room. “Yeah Pa- oh. Goodness, why are there so many officers?”

“Have a seat sweety.” offered one of the policemen. She took it, one right in front of Bruce Wayne. 

“My, six cops and a billionaire in our humble little abode. What can I help you all with?”

The cop next to Barnes, Rod, answered her question. “We need to know if you were at Dick Grayson’s 18th birthday party.”

“That was what? About a year and a half ago? Yeah I went. Got invited by my friend Nancy hart. Was a real shame to hear it went so bad. I’m sorry it happened Mr Wayne.” replied Cara, hanging her head.

“Mm.” replied Bruce, a malicious look still on his face.

“You were wearing this that night, correct?” asked Barnes while holding up a blown up image of the blurred first photo.

“That isn’t me.” said Cara straight away, and too quick. She didn’t know about this photo.

“So if we searched your room we wouldn’t find this orange and white dress?”

“Well you would, actually. I do own that one, I just wasn’t wearing it that night.”

“You remember what you were wearing that night over a year and a quarter ago?”

“Yeah, I bought a new outfit for the occasion. Wanted the rich boy to notice me.”   
She tried to say it in a casual way, but they were obviously getting to her.

“And you own this exact dress?”

“Yeah, but mines shorter. This ones the long cut. Orange and white was all the rage back then. Everyone had it.”

Barnes moved the photo to the back, the next one on top showing that it was in fact a short cut.

“Well... Like I said, it was all the rage.” She was really trying. 

Cara looked at her father for help, and he finally butted in. “How long is this going to take? I have a farm to look after here you know, and all you’ve done since I let you into my home is harrass my daughter.” 

Bruce stood up, anger plastered on his face. “We will take as long as we damnwell need. You took my son, I know it. Batman thinks it was your kid and so do I. Continue to lie, and it will only get worse for you.”

This became an argument over who was allowed to speak here, who could go where, and so on. It all halted at a pounding coming from the next room. Cara and Alan turned to stone, staring at the officers in turn. 

“Nother cow musta got into the basement again” said Alan as the party congregated in the next room. He tried, but it was too late.

Rod opened the door where the pounding was coming from and a flash of skin piled out from behind it. The heap opened his eyes, and they were unmistably Dick’s.

Time seemed to stop. Everyone just stared, until Rod finally spoke;  
“... You sickos are all under arrest. Barnes, read them their rights.”

Another officer, this one named Dan ran to the closest GCPD car and retrieved a blanket usually used for recently molested or abused children. This kid was completely naked, probably freezing. He got the blanket over the poor boy as quickly as he could. Another officer had already called an ambulance.

One car left with Cara and Alan in the back of it. They would have to wait for Dick to be in a better state before they could find out if there was anyone else involved.

Bruce stayed where he was through all of this. That couldn’t be Dick. This kid was broken, bruised, still bleeding, a completely messy heap of failure, the opposite of everything Dick was. But the resemblence to Dick was incredible, aside from the significant weight loss and long hair. 

“Mr Wayne?” asked a female officer.  
Bruce looked up, a distant look in his eyes.  
“The ambulance. You’re going with him right?”

Bruce turned towards the front door to find paramedics already moving Dick through it. He wandered in that direction completely light headed and lost, joining them in the back of the vehicle. There was a blaring siren above him, but Bruce couldn’t hear it.

~~~

Dick was used to a routine. Wake up, eat last nights scraps, use the bushes outside under someone’s watchful eyes, get hosed down, stay with one of his owners for if they needed to take their anger out on him, stay quiet, stay down, and don’t disobey.

Before it got dark, he was permitted to use the bushes one last time. Then it was back into the basement with his arms and legs bound, a ballgag in his mouth, and a blindfold over his beautiful eyes. Sometimes they left him down there for days. Dick no longer knew what day, month, or even year it was. In real time, he had been there for almost three months on top of a year.

Every day was the same. That’s why Dick’s hope returned when he heard uncommon noises from guests.

He was Nightwing. He could get out of the ropes okay, and from there it was easy. He was still human though, and couldn’t deal with another tranq in him. They would punish him worse than the first time, perhaps worse than any other time.

Dick had lost a toe and the top of his right ear, as well as the tips of three fingers on his right hand. He could remember the fingers incident like it had happened yesterday: It was the biggest game of the year, Gotham vs Metropolis. Bill had a pair of pliars ready around Dick’s little finger. Dick was breathing hard, on the verge of fainting from the mere thought of what would happen. He was trying to keep himself composed, but Bill liked to be in control. This unpredictability, this idea of weakness, this scared him.   
The deal was that every time Gotham lost a round, Dick would lose a finger. Lucky for him, Gotham won the first round. Unlucky for him, they lost the rest of them.

As well as these, Dick was covered in bruises and cuts. He had almost died many times from being stabbed or sliced too deep, or from general head trauma, and sometimes suffocation. He recieved a broken arm half a year ago, almost got gangrene, but managed to survive. It didn’t heal properly, it clicked, and it still hurt. He wasn’t too sure, but a bone in his right foot may have been crushed too.

That’s why this was so dangerous.

He heard the front door open, and for once Cara’s father sounded rushed and unsure every time he spoke. This was a good sign for Dick. He always sounded composed and certain.

He undid his ropes (again, simple enough,) and removed his blindfold and ballgag. He crawled to the stairs each centimetre causing pain in his entire being. He crawled up the stairs with tremendous effort, knowing he would never have another shot at this. He looked completely pathetic.

He listened from a quarter way up the stairs, one unfamiliar voice,then two more. Could be relatives of theirs. Then the sound he had waited for for so long: Bruce’s voice.

Momentarily shellshocked, Dick ascended his way towards the very top step. He didn’t dare make a sound while he was so far away.

Next to the door, Dick got himself as comfortable as his broken body would allow. He used what little strength he had left to hit himself into the basement door over and over. The voices outside stopped, the entire world stopped.

Complete silence. 

Dick was sure they would break his legs this time, possibly remove them. Tears streamed down his face, and he just couldn’t hold it in. 

He had done well over the year, hardly crying, never letting them know just how much they really hurt him. But he just couldn’t now. Maybe it wasn’t even Bruce on the other side of this door. Dick hadn’t had a stroke of good luck since the day Bruce agreed to let him have an 18th. Maybe he wasn’t--

He fell backwards. Not down the stairs, but into the now open hall. He instinctively put his hands in front of his face, a grimmace plastered on it, completely ready for them to strike. His breathing stopped, and he refused to open his eyes, but failed in tht too.

“... You sickos are all under arrest. Barnes, read them their rights.”

“Dick...” 

He opened his eyes, and there was Bruce. An officer came from nowhere and threw a blanket over dick before dragging him away from the basement. Dick forgot he was naked, forgot about the spit all over his face from of the gag. He was safe. He was finally safe.

Dick closed his eyes, let himself stop feeling the intense pain he was forced to feel for so long. His legs were numb, and if be died then, he would die happy.


	5. Chapter 5

The ground beneath him was soft. There was no pain, his head was light, and he felt a sensation he had long forgotten. He felt like everything was okay.

Dick was convinced he was in heaven. He couldn’t feel the bone shard he had embedded in his leg, and he could ALWAYS feel that. The smaller pieces of glass felt gone. The bone in his foot he was sure was crushed felt heavy, but fine. This had to be heaven, where his body was completely mended and everything was just, okay.

He ghosted his thumb over the place the tips of his fingers used to be, and he felt them perfectly intact. This was heaven, and when he opened his eyes he would see the pearly gates and God himself. Was he ready for this?

Dick stretched out his leg, the one that wasn’t heavy, and kicked something. And it hurt. 

Dick tried to roll onto his side, but that hurt too. He groaned and then felt hands on him, trying to help him onto his back again. Hands held him down as he tried to roll, and he felt the cloud underneath his back rising slightly. He opened an eye with great difficulty and was momentarily blinded by the lights.

He rolled his head to his right for no particular reason and found Bruce. He recoiled slightly. Why the hell was Bruce there?

“You died? But whose gonna be Batman?”

“He will be delerious for some time” said a woman who appeared between him and Bruce. She shined another light in his eyes and turned his head in her dark hand. Looking for what, Dick didn’t know. “Other than that he should be fine.”

Dick’s eyes followed her as she left the room. “Is that God?” asked the confused boy still staring at the doorway.

“You’re not dead” Bruce said. “You're in a hospital. We thought you were dead, but you're not. A little broken, but completely alive.”

Dick finally turned to Bruce. “Dad?” he began. 

“Try not to talk too much.” said Bruce, placing a hand on Dick’s head to run fingers through his hair.

“But... If I’m not dead, why did you wait to find me for so long?”

“We never stopped looking.” Bruce gave vague answers, knowing he would have to repeat them later. He still felt bad for lying.

“I’m... I’m broken.”

“I know.”

“He took my fingers.” 

“Already replaced them.

Dick put his hand in front of his face to find 3D printed fingertips. He stared as he brought them to his face, feeling them there for a few seconds. “But I can’t feel them?”

“They’re not your real fingertips.” Bruce didn’t realise how delerious Dick really was.

“And my toe?”

“That’s new too.”

“Oh... Is my foot okay?”

“Needed surgery. So did your arm, and some ribs, and most of you. That Bone shard in your leg really did a number on the surgeons. It was lodged in there and your cells regenerated around it, but it stabbed in and broke the mended area every time you walked. You're lucky to have a leg at all.” 

Bruce moved his chair so it faced parallell to Dick’s bed and put his arms around his son in a sideways hug, his head on Dick’s shoulder. “You had glass all through you, you had no food in you, you were dehydrated, you were too pale, your hair was infested by lice, you almost didn’t have enough blood, your eyes are black, your whole body is bruised, and your fucking balls are gone. You’ve been missing for a year and a quarter and it’s all my fault!” 

Bruce cried into Dick’s shoulder and pulled him into the hug hard, never wanting to let go. Dick let Bruce tug him around, completely oblivious to what was happening.

“Warraya doing?” Asked Dick, still loopy from the drugs. Bruce didn’t stop though. His boy was finally safe in his arms, and he was never letting go again.

~~~

When Dick was conscious again days later, he was ready to answer questions for himself. Three officers sat next to his hospital bed; one to write everything said, one to hold video footage and work with the microphones, and one to ask the questions. Bruce, much to his dismay, had to wait outside. Dick had a bowl of lamb soup in front of him on a tray, and took sips in between questions and answers.

“March 27th 2017, officers Branch, Net and Green, with Richard Grayson, location Gotham Private Hospital. Please state your full name and the current date.”

“Its, uh... March 27th 2017 and my name is Richard John Grayson-Wayne.”

“What date and do you remember previously being in the custody of your adoptive father Bruce Wayne?”

“It was my birthday, the 11th of November.”

“Year?”

“Oh, it was in... 2015.” only then did it dawn on Dick how long he was actually gone for.

“How did you go missing?”

“I don't remember. A lot of people brought alcohol and I had some too, and then Cara Thompson brought shots but she must have spiked it or something. Or maybe she conviced me to leave? I don’t remember.”

“That part may be considered your own responsibility in a court of law. Who is Cara Thompson?”

“Cara Thompson is an IT specialist. She attended my 18th birthday party, the night I went missing. She had work experience at Wayne Tech and hacked into our cameras or something? Thats what Bruce thinks anyway, the last part. She told me she had work experience and-”

“Do you know why you, specifically, were taken?”

“They selected me from her las-”

“Please use names” interrupted an officer.

“... Cara Thompson and her Father selected me from her last Gotham Academy Year book. They wanted me as a slave-gift-thing to Cara’s brother Bill.”

The officers looked at each other, slightly embarrassed. “So there were three people involved in your kidnapping?” 

“In a sense of the word, yes. Two people implemented it, and the third enjoyed what they reaped. That being me.”

“They removed some body parts. Can you please tell us which body parts were removed?”

“Fingertips” said Dick holding up his impeded hand, “Toe, bits of flesh, and... Well, um...” He looked into the camera like a deer in headlights, and then looked down. “He, I mean the Dad, I never actually learnt his name. They always called him Pa. He used, you know. The thing they use on Bulls. To neuter them.”

His face was red and he just couldn’t look at the officers. Two made audible wincing noises. The third however was a woman, and she asked him “You mean to say they removed your testicles.”

Dick nodded.

“Please say it aloud, for the recording.”

“Yes. Yes, he removed my testicles.”

“And what else did they do, Richard?”

~~~

The whole intervew took a little over two hours, and Dick was thankful when they were finally gone and he could relax. He lay in that hospital bed with the memories of every horrible thing that had happened fresh in his head. The 27th of March 2017. He played the date in his head over and over. The 27th of March 2017. He had missed all of 2016 and the start of 2017. They had a new president, and he didn’t even know who it was. If any celebrities had died, he missed it. The olympics and gymnastics events hurt too. He watched it with his parents, and then Bruce after them...

The only thing he knew about was the result of the superbowl. Metropolis won that one. Aside from that he was oblivious...

He sat back in his pillow and stared at his now uncovered body. All he was wearing was a hospital gown, but he could see a lot of his body. The muscles he had worked so hard for: gone. One leg was in a cast to set his foot straight though it would never be the same again, the other bandaged over and around four toes. One arm was in a brace to stop the clicking, and his fingertips were a hot pink at the moment. Most of his body was covered in bandages and tape, and he could now feel every ounce of pain.

He lay in the bed, afraid to move, when someone walked through his door. He looked over expecting Bruce, but saw his nurse. 

“When’s Bruce coming back in?” asked Dick in a casual, though shakey voice.

“I’m sorry to say but visitation is over. Bruce has gone home.”

Dick was surprised by this. “I thought he would be allowed to stay? He did last night.” 

“He didn’t tell us your age. You don’t need a gaurdian with you when you’re over 18.”

Dick lay back in his bed, still aware of the pain.

“Anything I can get you love?”

“Pain meds would be nice.” 

“Sure. Only a few though.”

“Yeah. Only a few.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a short chapter for now. I think i can finish it off in one more chapter eventually. Thankyou for your views :)


	6. Chapter 6

It was a painful and tiring next few weeks for Dick Grayson. When he was finally allowed to leave the hospital he stepped outside into the blinding world and was overwelmed by the cameras in his face. He still looked dishelved and thin, the black around his eyes made him look dead. The press werent allowed past the hospital doors, but they found their place just outside it.

 

Dick was on the front cover of every paper, from which one could see his hollow cheeks and his destroyed ear. His lips were cracked and his face had cuts and bruises all over it still, but he looked a hell of a lot better than he did when they first found him. 

 

Bruce was absolutely furious. He was used to the press, and he knew Dick was as well, but they had put in print when Dick was leaving and where he would reside after. If Bill saw it, and Bruce knew he would, Dick would be in more danger than he already was.

Dick didn’t mind so much. He was just happy to be home again. He didn’t even notice that he was holding his breath until the manor was in sight and he finally let it out. When the car pulled up, Dick just sat there. Alfred turned the key in the ignition and the pair sat stationary for a moment. 

“Welcome home, Dick” said Alfred.

Dick didn’t reply and instead opened the passenger side door and hobbled up the steps to his home. He forgot how large this place was, especially when he attempted to scale the stairs with the aide of his crutches. It took him almost twenty minutes to get to his room, but he managed. 

He opened his door and looked around the space. His bed was well made, his drawers were neat, and his window was slightly opened. His many plans for his birthday in 2015 were still layed out everywhere, strewn at random all over the place. Dick had been the last person to enter that room, even before that moment.

Dick almost reopened some stitches in his haste to remove the many sheets of paper about his room. He threw them out the window and slammed it. He locked it and drew his curtains. He backed away as if they would attack him at any moment. 

He didn’t hear the door open behind him and almost jumped out of his skin when someone said his name. He jolted at the sound, gasped, and turned around with a crutch out and ready to use as a weapon. In front of him was Jason Todd, now a man taller than he was.

The boys stared at each other for a moment, both apprehensive of each other. Jason walked forward, not expecting Dick to move at all. He put a strong arm on Dick’s shoulder and pulled him into his chest. He bent his neck to place his head on his older brother’s shoulders and held on as if he would never have a chance to do it again. It hurt Dick, but he would never tell Jason that.

Dick returned the hug and was the first to pull back. He held Jason at arms length.  
“Let me get a look at you” said Dick. Jason was now burly and wide, certainly more muscular than Dick had ever been. His face had become more angular, but he could still see that cute baby face he had come to love. His hair was still black, but now he had a little white streak in his fringe. Dick thought it was dangerous if he was still robin, having such a distinguishing feature, but again he would say nothing.

“Not much to look at really. Where were you?” asked Jason, a sadness hidden in his features.

“Surely you’ve read the papers” replied Dick. Jason nodded. 

“But I want to hear it from you.” The pair held eye contact and Dick broke it first to say ‘another time. Im not ready.’

Jason continued to stare at his elder. He didnt know it was even possible for Dick to look thinner than he had been in 2015. He remembered the moment when it hit his mind that Dick had gone missing, the day after his 18th. 

He could recall waking up with his face down next to the pool with a killer headache, completely alone. He found this incredibly strange since surely people would have passed out around him. Thats how it was meant to go. He threw up into the pool (it needed cleaning anyway,) and then stood up with some difficulty and a light head. He went into the kitchen and made himself whatever cereal they had at the time. He remembered calling out to Alfred, a quick complaint that he had to slave over his own breakfast. He remembered hearing voices from above him as he sat. He remembered taking his bowl of cereal to the outside of Bruce’s office and putting his ear to the cold door. He remembered hearing Bruce say he didn’t know where Dick was last seen because the footage was tampered with, and he remembered the reply from the police commissioner, only he didn’t know what was said. 

Jason could remember opening the door, or maybe he burst straight through it. He looked at Bruce with a look that asked ‘is what you’re saying true?’ but Bruce didn’t reply with a look; his hurting tear strewn face already said it all. Jason didn’t even notice the pool of milk and cereal on the ground, and he couldn’t recall when he dropped it. His pounding head was stabbing him worse than it already was and he couldn’t help but blame himself. He decided then that he would never drink again, but he had many times since then.

This memory would haunt him for the rest of his life, even though Dick was right in front of him. He looked at his brother who was talking, but didn’t hear what he said until he started clicking his fingers in front of Jason’s face. “Huh?”

“I said how did you guys find me? And after such a long time.” 

“Barbara was the one who-” Jason slapped his head with the palm of his hand. “Barbara, she doesn’t know you’re back yet.” he pulled out his phone and hit it a few times before putting it to his ear. Dick couldn’t hear much on the other end of the line; his inner ears had major damage to them and needed some time before they could be properly fixed.

“Barbs, hey! He’s back now and-- yeah, of course.” Jason held the phone out to Dick who took it with an uneasiness. Would he even be able to hear her?

“Barbara? Hey. You may need to yell.” He could hear her fine. He heard her jump out of her window however many floors up, run to her car, and speed towards them to the apparent dismay of every other road patron. Dick asked her to slow down, but she didn’t. 

The pair stayed on the phone until she had him in sight three minutes later, when she ran and hugged him close, refusing to let go even when he tensed up. “I knew you were still alive.” 

**

Bruce could hear his family in Dick’s room from his study. He would greet Dick later, but at that moment he had another mission. He didn’t dare do his research in the cave because he knew it would be found. No, this needed to be a private affair. 

He gathered as much information on the Thompsons as he could; family records, dental records, previous afflictions, criminal records, etc. He found that Bill, whoever he was, was a recovered alcoholic, 6 years sober. He could use this. He could definitely use this.

The other two members of the family were more difficult. They were in police custody, and there was only one thing Bruce could think to do. 

He put his fingers together in deep contemplation. First Bill. Then the others.

**

Batman stood on the roof of a dingy motel alone, no Batgirl, no Robins. He could hear people having sex in one of the rooms, and a lonely man in another. This motel was gross, shady, and cheap. 

Dick had been home for two days, and in that time Bruce had located and tracked the movements of Bill Thompson, and he was sure he would be there tonight. This motel didn’t ask questions, as long as you had the money. It was one of very, very few in the area. 

Past midnight, the rusty pickup truck pulled into a spot, and Bill Thompson got out of the drivers side. Where he got the truck, Batman had no idea. He watched Bill go to the reception, looking to his back every now and then. He entered the building and came out not 4 minutes later in the company of the motel owner. Bruce listened as they went into one of the rooms underneath him, and then he waited. 

Nearing one in the morning, Batman decided it was time. He jumped down from the roof silently and crouched. Noone could see him, and noone else was coming, or he was sure noone was anyway. Really, he didn’t care.

The light in Bill’s room was still on and his voice could be heard from inside. He was on the phone to someone, but Bruce couldn’t care less who he was talking to. He picked the door silently, and burst into the room at his full height. 

Bill was scrawny and Batman outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds. This is why it was so easy to break him. Bill put up a good effort, but against Batman it was nothing. His head was facing the wrong way before he could even scream, and he was dead in seconds.

Batman picked up the phone and put it to his ear, and out of it came a little girl’s voice asking where her Daddy had gone.   
“Dad? Daaaaddy? Where’d you go?”

This sicko was allowed a child? The world really was a disgusting place. Batman thought for a moment. He could tell this child her Dad was a sadistic freak, a feral waste of space, scum of the earth not even worthy of the dirt he walked on. But then he might regret what he had done, and he wasn’t finished yet. He couldn’t, not now.

**

Batman had no issues getting into the GCPD. He just walked right in, a stern look on his face and a mission the police were not yet aware of.

“I want to see the Thompsons.” was all he had to say, and he was taken to them immediately. They were being held in a small room behind bars, still awaiting the details of their trial. They had issues with finding a lawyer, since noone wanted to go against Bruce Wayne’s.

“You’re the Thompsons?” he asked. 

They looked at each other and back to Batman. “Yeah. What of it? We don’t have a lawyer yet so we aint saying nothing.” said Alan Thompson.

Cara added on “We don’t know how that dumb Wayne kid got in our house. Maybe he was a theif or something, a runaway even. Doesn’t matter anyway, what’s Batman gonna do from the other side of the bars?” 

Batman pulled out a gun. Not a Batgun, or some fancy variant of gun. Just a normal handgun. He was fast and accurate, shooting both in the head before anyone could notice. He was gone from the scene just as quickly, and with the three Thompsons, the Batman was dead.

**

The funerals were attended by only two people, Bill’s fat wife and her child. They were sad for a while, but that ended when they received a letter containing three cheques from Bruce Wayne payable to any primary, secondary, and college education they wanted, and all thoughts of Bill were gone from their minds. 

Batman was dead, as were those who assisted him. The Waynes had peace of mind, though they missed Barbara Gordon who hardly spoke to them anymore. Dick was greatful to Bruce, who essentially killed himself and lived the lie of Bruce Wayne. The cave was paved over, and the justice league were conflicted to say the least.

Superman visited Bruce once, the day after he killed the Thompsons. “Why did you break your rule, the one rule you pressed onto others, the only humanity you truly showed in all of your time as Batman. Why did you do it?”

Bruce looked Superman in the eye, still not afraid even though he was only a civillian now. “You aren’t a father. You’ll never know.”


End file.
